The beginnings and development of a New Zealand music: The life ...

orchestra in no fewer than eight performances of music by Lilburn. 76
118
On 21 June 1958,John Hopkins established a 'first' for Douglas
Lilburn and New Zealand music in conducting a performance of Festival
Overture for the purpose of recording the overture for commercial release
on record. Festival Overture was to be included on a long-playing record
pro d uce d b y HMV ent~t
. I e d Festlve . 0 vertures. 77
According to an advertising pamphlet circulated to dealers at that
time, the record Festive Overtures was a 'first' in many ways for New
Zealand music:
the first commercial recording made by the National
Orchestra, the first New Zealand stereophonic record, the first local
j
recording of an overture composed by a New Zealander, the first National
Orchestra record cover designed by a "famous New Zealand artist,,78 and
the first cOmmercial long-playing record recorded by New Zealand
technicians.
This first recording of one of Lilburn's works was followed closely,
in 1960, by the commercial release of Landfall in Unknown Seas and Sings
Harry.
Both works were released on a label called the Kiwi New Zealand
Composer Edition. Landfall in Unknown Seas was included on a longplaying
record that also contained Ashley Heenan's Cindy:
Larry Pruden's Dances of Brittany and John Ritchie's Turkey in th~
A Square Dance,
Straw. 79 Sinss Harry was released later in the year as the sole work on
a 45 rpm disc. 80
The Kiwi New Zealand Composer Edition of recordings was one of the
first significant successes of the APRA Music Advisory Committee in New
Zealand.
The label grew out of meetings between the Advisory Committee
and the book publishers A.H. and A.W. Reed.
Reed's publishing house had
built a reputation based on its production of books about New Zealand.
With an eye on both the growing tourist industry and the awakening
interest in New Zealand culture, Reeds had begun producing records
designed specifically for this growingmarket. 81
76 Figures taken from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra files of records
of performances.
77 Festive Overtures was produ~ed by His Master's Voice (N.Z.) Limited.
It was released in monaural (~~LP.6008) and stereophonic (ASDM.5001)
versions. It is worth noting that the first ever stereophonic record
had been released in the United Kingdom only a year earlier, in 1958.
78 Mervyn Taylor.
79 SLD-2.
80 EC-26.
81 See Appendix A8 for expanded history of this record company.